混 Konsei ReiyotanStatic web edition · v1.3.3
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English edition v1.3.3

#Spirit Realm Section Index

Contents

Core reference: Zone Gimmick Catalog (區域仕掛圖鑑)

Scent. A single stick of incense goes first. Smoke sees first, and feet follow after. The Spirit Realm(靈界) is such a place. This index is a door to the six main texts. Before crossing the threshold, count how many doors there are.

#What This Section Covers

The Spirit Realm is every space outside Kagamiyama Domain. The core text blurred this region with the single phrase "outside the barrier"; this supplement unfolds it across seven files. It has two aims.

First, to let the GM treat the Spirit Realm as more than "a place to flee" or "where the boss lives." The Spirit Realm is a place, and places have weather, terrain, and rules.

Second, to make Spirit Realm travel itself create checks and drama. This section formalizes, as rules, an environment where walking alone wears down Wounds and staying alone stains the Heart.

#File Structure

The six files below are the body of this section. Their order is also the recommended reading order.

#03-01 Spirit Realm Topology

Defines the "shape" of the Spirit Realm. Kagamiyama Domain sits at the center, with regions extending in 8 directions. Among them, one hell is placed in each of five directions, and the remaining three directions stay as inaccessible blank space. This is where the travel-distance measure "round(間合)" appears, along with the concept of "depth," which works separately from horizontal distance.

#03-02 Travel Rules

New rule. Walking through the Spirit Realm has a price. Time tremors, fatigue, and spiritual erosion are not separate counters; they are recorded with a single value, Spirit Realm Exposure 0-10. Purification is possible only at specific points, and the rule connects cleanly to core Wounds recovery rules, adding suspense to long-stay Spirit Realm scenarios.

#03-03 Spirit Realm Tide

The Spirit Realm has no sea, but it has tides. Four times a day, Barrier pressure waxes and wanes like the moon. At high tide, Barrier the Target Number is +2. When the season changes, the tide range grows larger, and the moon phase determines direction.

#03-04 Weather Hazards

Presents each of the five hells' unique climates as d10 tables. Ash rain, black hail, auditory-hallucination fog, spiritual storms. Each climate numerically affects PC checks. Weather is not mood; it is rules.

#03-05 Barrier Boundary Events

New rule. The edge of the barrier is not always quiet. A d100 event table of 20 entries immediately calls up events such as erosion, stitching, and yoma approach attempts with one roll. The framework for scenarios where the PCs spend a night on the boundary.

#03-06 Buddhist 8 Hells GM Guide

The doctrinal essence of the five hells (Reviving, Black Rope, Screaming, Scorching Heat, Avici), their 5-chapter mapping, unique gimmicks, and Scent presentation tips. The remaining three hells (Crushing, Great Screaming, Great Scorching Heat) are reference appendices. The guide's philosophy: each hell is "not punishment, but a mirror."

#Reading Order Guide

For GMs opening this section for the first time, use this order.

  1. This index (03-00)
  2. Topology (03-01) — a story needs a map first
  3. Travel Rules (03-02) — learn the price of movement first
  4. Hell Guide (03-06) — know what lies in each direction
  5. Tide (03-03) and Weather (03-04) — add environmental change
  6. Boundary Events (03-05) — release uncertainty last

If reviewing right before a session, reverse the order. Roll the boundary event table and weather table first to set that day's Spirit Realm, then open hell details only at the moments they are needed.

#Consistency with the Core

Core 05-05 Zone Gimmicks covers barrier and space rules inside the domain. This supplement provides the "outside" counterpart to those rules. The two documents face each other across the boundary surface called the barrier.

Specifically:

  • Core Barrier Target Numbers are the baseline. This supplement's tide (03-03) applies ± to the Target Number.
  • Core Wounds recovery rules are domain-based. This supplement's travel rules (03-02) add recovery interference from Spirit Realm Exposure.
  • Core yoma encounter tables are events inside the domain. This supplement's boundary event table (03-05) is for events on the barrier edge.
  • The core time unit "round" is used identically throughout this supplement.

#Three Design Principles

The principles followed while writing this section. Use them as reference when the GM changes tables or numbers directly.

#Principle 1. Slow Cruelty

The Spirit Realm's harms are not fast. This section contains almost no scene where one check kills a PC. Instead, Spirit Realm Exposure rises, Wounds recovery slows, and Barrier Target Number accumulates by +1. Suffering is cumulative. As in Buddhist hells.

#Principle 2. Primacy of Sensation

Sensation comes before numbers. Before recording "Exposure +1," the GM says, "the scent has changed." Rules are better when they follow sensation. Every table in this section places a short description beside the number.

#Principle 3. Hell as Mirror

Hell does not punish PCs. Hell reflects what already exists inside them. Reviving reflects wounds, Black Rope reflects bindings, Screaming reflects boiling, Scorching Heat reflects ash, and Avici reflects infinity. When running a hell, the GM first asks, "What in this PC is reflected here?"

#Presentation Tip — When the Index Is Open on the Desk

Just before entering a Spirit Realm scene during a session, the GM opens this index beside 03-01 Topology. Point to the PCs' location on the topology map, then scan this index's table of contents. Pull out only about two files needed in that moment.

It is better not to keep four or more files open at once. The Spirit Realm is most frightening when it reveals itself one direction at a time.

#Scent. One More Stick — The Scent of the Index

Light incense once more. This time, it is incense for the file called an index. This index should not be a document that closes after being read, but a small card on the table, reopened every session.

Scent serves two roles here. First, it is the medium that tunes the tone of all these files. Second, it is the signal by which the GM realizes, during a session, "Ah, I need that file." When players ask about direction, Exposure rises, or the GM needs a tide description during play, the GM looks to this index first.

This file uses short sentences. The rhythm of short sentences is close to the sensation of the Spirit Realm. In the Spirit Realm, long sentences lose breath.

#Law — Three Uses of the Index

#Use 1. Preparation

Before the campaign begins. The order in which the GM first reads the Spirit Realm section. Read through 1 time according to the recommended reading order section.

#Use 2. Pre-Session Review

30 minutes before the session starts. The GM predicts today's Spirit Realm scenes and reopens only the relevant files. This index is a quick reference table for "which file do I need?"

#Use 3. Emergency Reference During Play

During the session. When a player question needs an answer. Run a finger down the index's file-structure list and immediately open the relevant file. Links are bolded for this purpose.

#Spirit Realm Outside This Section — Other Sections of This Supplement

This supplement, yeonggye-pyoryugi, consists of several sections dealing with the Spirit Realm, and this 03-spirit-realm section is responsible for environment, geography, and rules. Other sections (for example, 01-domain, 02-characters, etc.) cover the domain interior and PC/NPC-related expansions.

This index is only the index for the 03-spirit-realm section, not the index for the entire supplement. For the full supplement index, refer to the separate document in the parent folder.

#Connections